Ryan turned to look back at Maeve, who was bracing herself on his shoulders and trying to climb onto his head.
After several hops in a row, she finally found a good moment and mounted Ryan's neck.
She was heavy as a pig, and she liked to squirm around while perched on his neck; after just a few steps Ryan's knees were giving out.
"Get down or I'll grope your little seafood."
"Didn't you tell me to ride you?" Maeve pouted, as if it were only natural.
Ryan was momentarily lost for words.
He reached a hand back, and seeing this Maeve immediately fled, leaving Ryan grasping at air.
The little mutt followed behind, hands on her hips, wearing a thoroughly smug grin.
Seeing how brazen she was, Ryan had no choice but to use the magic brand to teach Maeve a lesson.
The moment he raised his hand, she dropped to her knees in a slide. "Master, I was wrong!"
Maeve always gave him the impression of someone scheming hard yet never managing to figure anything out.
Dim as she was, she had a sharp instinct for reading the room.
Sadly, the apology came too late, and under Ryan's control she still gave her own backside a hundred whacks.
When the punishment ended, Maeve clutched her reddened bottom and grumbled, "I'm never playing with you again..."
"Get to work. Use your nose to sniff out where those goblins are — they should be hiding nearby." Ryan pulled out a scrap of goblin cloth Evelyn had given him and held it in front of Maeve's nose.
She took one look, then ran off in disgust. "Ugh! That thing stinks! Take it away, take it away!"
Ryan narrowed his eyes. "You want to be controlled again?"
Under his tyrannical sway, Maeve had to obey, and most reluctantly she closed her eyes and logged the scent.
A few seconds later she followed the smell into the thicket.
Ryan and Ellie followed close behind her.
The deeper they went, the more they couldn't see the way back when they looked over their shoulders.
Goblins liked to hide and rest in dense brush like this, so Maeve had probably found the right spot.
Ryan glanced at Ellie beside him, his restless hand reaching for her head again.
Ellie had a full head of hair — long, fluffy, and golden, exceptionally pleasant to touch.
[Ellie's Loyalty is slowly increasing. Current Loyalty: 31%]
Ellie didn't like to talk, but she seemed to quite enjoy having her head stroked.
Gazing at the cat tail perked up behind her rear, Ryan felt an itch stir within him.
He leaned in close to Ellie and murmured, "I want to touch your tail."
At those words, Ellie immediately turned her face to him.
She was as expressionless as ever, those blue eyes fixed on Ryan, her thoughts unreadable; but soon she lifted her big fluffy tail over toward him.
Without the slightest hesitation Ryan grabbed it and began stroking back and forth, each distinct strand of fur slipping through his fingers.
A mere two and a half seconds later, Ellie pulled her tail away.
She said nothing, but quickened her pace.
Ryan noticed that Ellie's neck seemed to have flushed.
Now this was interesting...
"Don't walk so fast, I haven't had enough yet." Ryan hurried to catch up, gently caught Ellie's tail, and resumed playing with it.
Just then, Maeve happened to come back from up ahead.
She seemed about to say something, but seeing Ryan pestering Ellie to touch her tail, she swallowed the words back down.
Her gray wolf tail tucked itself between her legs.
After a few seconds' hesitation, she asked tremulously, "I shouldn't have to get my tail touched, right?"
"Bring it over and let me have a look." Ryan crooked a finger at her.
Maeve's wolf tail always hung down behind her rear, and to be honest Ryan wanted to test out how the little thing felt too.
"No, no, no... you... you just touch Ellie's. I accidentally peed on my tail this morning." To make Ryan give up, she'd even stoop to saying something so embarrassing.
Sadly, the trick didn't work on Ryan.
"It's fine. Bring it over — that happens to be just my taste."
Maeve was on the verge of tears. "How can you be like this..."
She covered her bottom and shook her head, paused, then went on, "I'm begging you, Master!"
Seeing Maeve blowing snot bubbles, Ryan suddenly lost the urge to tease her. "Fine, fine. Behave yourself and I won't touch your tail. What did you find up ahead?"
Maeve sniffed back the snot and put away her woeful face. "Master! There seems to be a goblin camp up ahead! The smell reeks to high heaven — my nose can hardly take it."
Ryan's interest was instantly piqued.
It seemed buying Maeve had been the right choice; her nose really could boost their efficiency and cut down the time spent finding targets.
"How far?"
"Not far. Let Ellie go in front." Maeve let go of her tail, moved up close to Ryan, and hid behind him. "I need to find somewhere to hide..."
Ryan glanced back at her and held out the longsword from his waist. "You're going in too."
Maeve looked at it but didn't dare take it. She tapped Ryan's shoulder lightly and wheedled, "Hahaha... Master, you must be joking with me..."
But she soon found Ryan's expression unusually serious, and in the end reluctantly held up the longsword and stood beside Ellie.
The three walked on a while longer, and Ellie seemed to sense something too.
She first crouched in the brush and peered out, then walked straight out.
Maeve glanced back at Ryan first, then finally steeled herself and followed.
By the time Ryan drew near, the fight was already over.
The goblin camp wasn't big — just a campfire and a few rags spread on the ground, the edges littered with food scraps and droppings, with two crates of goods stacked in a corner, apparently looted not long ago.
Ryan counted eight corpses in all, every one of them beheaded — clearly Ellie's work.
Maeve wiped the sweat from her forehead and let out a long breath. "What a fierce battle that was!"
Ryan looked down at the longsword — spotless, not a drop of blood on it. By the time the little mutt had gone out, Ellie had long since finished the fight.
"Search around. See if there's anything valuable."
Maeve handed the sword back to Ryan and immediately ran to the two crates to rummage.
A few seconds later she lifted her head and shouted, "Master! Master! Come quick and look at this!"
Ryan walked over to Maeve and glanced into the crate.
It was full of jumbled linen fabric. A crate of cloth like this was quite valuable; Ryan flipped through it roughly and made a quick estimate.
It would sell for forty or fifty silver at least — no small sum for Ryan at the moment.
"We've got to eat well tonight." Ryan nodded in satisfaction.
By rights, Maeve would have been the first to respond at a moment like this, but just now she was strangely quiet.
Ryan looked back and found her with a wooden stick, energetically poking at something in the grass, while Ellie stood by and watched.
Only on coming closer did he see, amid the weeds, a rocky cave large enough for one person to pass through...